LGV AVVOCATI WINS IN THE MATTER OF JURISDICTION

28/03/2018

In a recent decision, the Court of Bergamo recognized the lack of jurisdiction of the Italian judicial authorities in a negative assessment procedure for receivables established against a Dutch company that is a client of LGV.

 

The present proceeding was initiated, with an appeal pursuant to article 702-bis of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, by an Italian company – manufacturer of motorcycle helmet – against its Dutch distributor, assisted by LGV, in order to request verification of the non-existence of the right claimed by the latter in relation to the recognition of a bonus on turnover in 2016.

LGV appeared before the Court contesting, on a preliminary basis, the lack of jurisdiction of the Italian judge, on the basis of the provisions of EU Regulation 1215/2012; in particular, in particular, it maintained that the Dutch Court had jurisdiction both under Article 5 of the abovementioned Regulation, in relation to the connecting factor for the general forum of the defendant, and both in application of Article 7 on optional forums in the case of the sale of movable property.

The Court of Bergamo, in a decision issued only 5 months after the start of the proceedings, upheld the preliminary requests of the defendant, declaring that the Italian judicial authority lacked jurisdiction and ordered the applicant to pay the costs of the proceedings. In particular, the Court clarified that, in application of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/12, “(…) in cases of international disputes, jurisdiction lies with the courts of the place where the defendant is domiciled or, in the case of companies, the place of domicile” and that, pursuant to  Article 7 of the aforementioned Regulation, in the case of contracts for the sale of movable property, jurisdiction lies with the court of the place, situated in a Member State, where the goods were delivered or should have been delivered under the contract. In the present case, the defendant is based in the Netherlands and the applicant’s assets were delivered to the Netherlands; the judge, therefore, concluded that the Italian judge lacked jurisdiction.